Wise County teen worried about boy who shot him, mother says

Thirteen-year-old Carl Davis will spend the next several days at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth recovering from being shot while on a snake-killing mission.

Carl is asking people to pray for the 12-year-old friend who accidentally shot him, his mother, Tammy Davis of Springtown, said Wednesday.

Carl Davis was at his friend’s mobile home near Briar in Wise County at County Road 4764 on Tuesday afternoon when they and two other friends spotted a snake, Tammy Davis said. The snake bit a friend’s dog.

Carl Davis and the 12-year-old ran inside and grabbed a .22 rifle from a gun cabinet. The rifle fired, hitting Davis in the abdomen, Wise County investigators said.

“Carl wants people to know our family is getting a lot of prayers, but the little boy’s family needs prayers, too,” his mom said.

“The father of the kid didn’t know the gun was loaded.”

No adults were home, so the kids ran to a neighbor’s house for help, she said.

Carl Davis was flown by helicopter ambulance to Cook Children’s, where he had surgery on his small and large intestines, his mom said.

Doctors are monitoring him for infection, but he is expected to recover, she said.

“The doctor said if [the shot] was even a millimeter over, he’d be dead,” she said.

Investigators are looking into why the teens had access to an unlocked gun cabinet, Chief Deputy Kevin Benton said.

They will turn their findings over to the Wise County district attorney’s office.

Under state law, it’s a Class A misdemeanor if a person under age 17 “gains access to a readily dischargeable firearm” that was negligently left unsecured and the child fires the gun, injuring himself or another person.

The family doesn’t plan to pursue legal action, the mom said.

“One of the first things Carl said after the surgery is he didn’t want us to file charges. He is worried about his friend. His friend is crying and upset. He has called up several times to check on us,” said Tammy Davis, who said she won’t leave the hospital until her son does.

She said that she doesn’t blame the other boy and that the shooting is “almost as much my son’s fault.”

However, the mom said, she has mixed feelings about the unlocked gun cabinet and loaded rifle.

“They need to keep their guns locked up,” Tammy Davis said. “You think you teach your kids not to mess with guns, but they are 13 and think they are big enough.

“You have to at least keep the bullets locked and make sure the guns are unloaded. You never think it would happen to your child — but here we are.”

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